As others have said, it works for an always-on pedal, like an overdrive or comp, but for the most part they're just a lot more awkward than a 1590B with top-mount jacks. IMHO that's the perfect pedal format for anything basic (you can use a 125B w/ top mount if you have tons of extra functions like Dr Sci).

"You can't copyright circuits really." - Ed Sanner …………….0............."The effects market was really nothing more than a bunch of beggars and thieves, all building off one another's work." - Dan Armstrong…...........................…Sweet dealin's: here"...a benevolent dictatorship can be O.K. for as long as the benevolence lasts…” - Hardy Green"Flangers gonna Flange, though. There's no way around that." - Joel Korte

"You can't copyright circuits really." - Ed Sanner …………….0............."The effects market was really nothing more than a bunch of beggars and thieves, all building off one another's work." - Dan Armstrong…...........................…Sweet dealin's: here"...a benevolent dictatorship can be O.K. for as long as the benevolence lasts…” - Hardy Green"Flangers gonna Flange, though. There's no way around that." - Joel Korte

These are the two mini pedals on my board, EAR Electronics The Ghost delay and Fairfield Accountant comp. The main/right hand side of the chain ends with these two. They are connected by a Hosa dual plug and mounted on a Diago riser, which as you can see gives some extra room for a side jack pedal to be right up against the riser side, under the delay input jack. The pink/gold cable takes up the space on the other side of the riser, going from comp (always on) to amp.

All in all these two pedals take up about as much space as a 1590BB w/ side jacks. There's no particular reason why I got 1590As except that I thought these bbs looked good and they were effects I needed at the time. Then they ended up together because I wanted to keep delay oscillations from getting too loud, and I just like having comp/boost last.

"You can't copyright circuits really." - Ed Sanner …………….0............."The effects market was really nothing more than a bunch of beggars and thieves, all building off one another's work." - Dan Armstrong…...........................…Sweet dealin's: here"...a benevolent dictatorship can be O.K. for as long as the benevolence lasts…” - Hardy Green"Flangers gonna Flange, though. There's no way around that." - Joel Korte

I have two on my board - a polytune and a ditto. I would rehouse both into 125B but the screen on the polytune and the shitty soldering keep me from doing it. As everyone has said - they waste space with the jack placement and overbalance easy.

Got my accountant rehoused to a top mount 125B. Depending on what plugs you are using it takes up less space than it used to as a 1590A.

D.o.S. wrote:Slow down there Hall & Nopes that's a lot of melons for a meatbox.

I bought Mooer Black Secret once on Craigslist not realizing how tiny it was and was like “this is so fucking stupid” especially next to my muff also I didn’t really like it and sold it for the same price a week later but I guess I’m out like 3 hours of my life so fuck that shit amirite lads?

I like this explanation in the form of a question, as well as the aforementioned idea of pedalboard Jenga. Aside from being cute, affordability has led me to invest in a growing collection of mini boosts, overdrives, octavers, and modulation/filter pedals. Many are of decent enough quality for recording or hardcore bedroom playing, and Valeton makes shrunken Boss pedals (Loft series). There's even a mini Pearl Octaver on the market (Eno Octaver), though some quirks in the design need to be rectified. Additionally, more boutique builders like Pigtronix, (Dead) fx, Aminal Audio, Banana Effects, and one of the founders of Function f(x) are producing minis. When using EBS cables, the form factor isn't as much of an issue. With brands other than One Control, lack of practical battery power can be annoying, especially with a smaller brick power supply and/or cramped board. Also, I would agree that Valeton Coral series and Rowin/Donner micro mini pedals are a funky shape that can make standard-sized cable placement challenging, though many quality toanz are still possible.

Corey Y wrote:For something like a RAT, where personally I'm typically leaving it on all the time with one setting, I wouldn't mind having a mini pedal. Especially because even if every Rat or clone I've had is top jack, it's still pretty wide or awkwardly sized. So having side jacks and the power jack take up a little extra space width wise, doesn't completely counter the space saving aspects of the mini format. Something that is "set and forget" like a boost or simple overdrive, that I'm turning off and on, I guess it would depend how stable it is on my board.

For something more fiddly or that is already pretty compact sized and/or top jack, might not be worth it for me. I don't think I'd want a lot of mini pedal in a row on my board, if I were planning on turning things off and on frequently.